She Is Not Mine

12:30am I get up to feed Ives. She has a crazy talent of being able to eat and sleep at the same time. The night light in her nursery gently lights her precious face. I stare at her as she eats and sleeps. So peaceful.

She is home now and my heart is full. We spend our days eating and napping and we squeeze in some play time when we are both awake enough. Its perfect. It feels so "official" now that she is home. We are a family of 3. She belongs to us and us to her. She is ours.....and yet, she is not. She is not ours. She is not mine. She is a gift. She has been lent to us from Whom she belongs.

She is not mine, she is His.

Why He chose us, I don't know. But I am honored to be her Mama. She is a baby, she is a precious doll, she is a girl, she is my daughter. But when I think about her being a soul, I feel unworthy - I am unworthy. He has in trusted us to raise this soul. Wow.

She is a soul. She is not mine, she is His.

As I think about the choices Trent and I will make as we raise her - the big choices or the everyday decisions, remembering.... She is not ours, she is His.

Ivey is a precious little girl. She has cute pink clothes galore. Cute bows, cute shoes, you name it. True, it is fun to dress her up, but then I remember there's more than a cute face. She is a soul and what impact am I choosing to have on this precious soul?

As Ivey gets older and I'm daily teaching her about her dress and conduct as a young lady, what am I motivated by?

She is not mine, she is His.

When we are trying to decide what path to take to educate her (whether that be public, private, or homeschool), remembering....She is not mine, she is His.

We get so distracted by life and we become consumed with our electronic entertainment and screens that we forget about the soul. I do not want to be distracted by what is meaningless and forget the importance of the soul that I am raising. Am I giving my full attention to her- that which is His?

I pray that if we raise her with an understanding of  'She is not mine, she is His', then when she is grown and making her own decisions, she will say to herself:  I am not mine, I am His.

Help me to always remember, Lord, that she is not mine, but she is Yours and help me rise to that privilege with my whole heart and may I always glorify you with how I raise what is Yours.